In its research the BSIA investigated how often installers and manufacturers supply VCA in their solutions. VCA is the automatic analysis of surveillance images to create useful information about the content. It has a wide range of uses from the detection of intruders, left packages and wrongly parked vehicles to counting people entering or leaving an area.

An impressive 80 percent of respondents reported that they provide products using VCA with more than a quarter of products supplied using the technology. As well as the majority of respondents providing VCA, both installers and manufacturers commented on an increase in the number of supplied products using VCA in the last 12 months. Installers noted a seven-percent rise whereas manufacturers reported a four-percent increase.

The research also demonstrates that VCA is used by the transport and retail sectors most frequently, followed by the aviation, utilities and local authorities sectors. The most popular application of the technology reported is external and internal intruder detection.

"These results are encouraging with more and more people turning to VCA. This is not surprising given that the technology carries many benefits and can be used to increase the effectiveness and return on investment from surveillance systems through enhanced or increased capabilities to detect events and analyze post-event video," said Pauline Norstrom, Chairman of the BSIA's CCTV Section.

"VCA technology is now being applied more often in an assortment of businesses and as more and more gain from its many benefits, the hope is that the number of people using VCA will continue to increase," Norstrom said.